# Why did you start smoking cigars



## The Rodster (Jan 1, 2000)

I am pretty certain that this thread may have been done before, but I cannot remember seeing it. My question is, Why did you start smoking cigars?

For me it was all about the tradition and heritage that surrounded cigars. I started in my early 20s and always had a cigar at the end of an evening, usually after smoking a pack of Marlboro Lights and consuming gallons of beer!

I would inhale and to be honest was probably too pi**ed to taste a thing - all i knew was that I thought I looked dead cool!

As I got older the cigarettes were fazed out and the cigar collecting began in earnest. I now genuinely believe that it is important to keep such a precious art going. I feel that by continuing to smoke and collect cigars I am contributing towards the continuation of a long tradition. 

I also happen to believe that men need a hobby, something that is theirs and cannot be interupted by work / kids / wife etc. It sounds a little sad, but I think we all need to collect something and whilst I would not advocate stamp collecting (though I can now understand why people do) the cigars thing is defintiely my overiding hobby (or did I mean obsession!)

Any other thoughts why you started? 

Rodster


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## Matt R (Dec 12, 1997)

'Cuz I thought I looked cool and wanted to get laid more often. Turns out I was completely backwards. I still look like a goof and I still get laid once in a full moon. :r


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

I began smoking cigars occasionally around 18 or so. Smoking cigars was a way to spend some quality time with my dad on special occasions like father’s day, graduation, etc.

A few years later on a trip to Montreal I discovered the fine taste of ISOMs. A RyJ Cedro #3 and Monty #4's and I was hooked. I really hit the slippery slope this past Arpil when I purchased a box of Upmann #4's and then discovered this site.

I smoke cigars because I like the taste, the smell and the experience of enjoying a fine cigar, either by myself relaxing or with a group of friends at a cookout. I also enjoy the camaraderie among cigar smokers. The camaraderie is the foundation of this site, we all like cigars and share stories and information with complete strangers in some cases.

Cigar smoking to me can either be an escape from the hustle of life, or a way to celebrate life with friends and family.

Give me a good cigar and a good beer and I'm one happy man.


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## partagaspete (Apr 27, 2004)

The main reason I started and will continue to smoke cigars is....I really enjoy it. the flavors are sooo good! the peaceful moments as I watch the sun set over the ocean smoking a good cigar just washes away all worries and puts a smile back on my face.


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## BayouDawg (Nov 6, 2003)

Vancouver. Vacation. Cigars everywhere. I noticed lots of folks smoking while having coffee. I thought to myself...Hmmmm, I might wanna give that a try. Dropped a chunk on a Cohiba Esplendido and went to town. I don't remember having a cigar epiphany or anything like that, in fact I remember it getting quite bitter (probably becasue I was smoking way too fast). But I bought more, returned with cigars, and never stopped buying after that.

Big soft spot for Vancouver.

bd


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## Cigar Chic (Feb 19, 2004)

I got into cigars out of curiosity. I was on a business trip with a couple of co-workers (men) in Charleston SC. We were going out to dinner and then the guys were planning to go to a cigar bar and have a smoke. I asked if I could go along – sure they said.
I said sounds good and asked them to pick a cigar for me. Little did I know that they picked what I know now as a “dog rocket”. Apparently they wanted to see me turn green and get sick. That was to be their “entertainment” for the night. After a quick lesson on cutting, lighting and smoking; I went for it. Smoked it – all of it – didn’t turn green and didn’t get sick. 
So to their shock and amazement the next night they picked out a very nice cigar for me to smoke. I enjoyed it and questioned that it tasted MUCH better than the night before cigar. They just grinned and said yeah, this one is better.
I have been smoking cigars ever since.
Now I work (part time in a cigar store) and people are asking me what to smoke.


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## jackmoe (Jun 11, 2004)

The first time I ever went golfing, on about the 7th hole, a buddy whips out a few ISOMs that he had just brought back from Canada. I fell in love with golf, and that experience mad golf and cigars just seem to go together. Luckily I am not alone in make that connection.


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## Deriffe (Jul 27, 2004)

Cigars helped me beat the cigarette addiction. Every time I tried to quit cigarettes, I would do fine for several months and then I would go to a bar, have a couple drinks, smell the smoke and fall off the wagon. 18 months ago, I gave up cigs again but this time, I picked up a couple macadoodoos to puff on at the bar. The rest is history. I fell deeply into the cigar hobby and haven't had a cigarette since. I don't inhale cigars and now my pipe like I did cigarettes either so the wife doesn't nag as much. :al


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## The Rodster (Jan 1, 2000)

Deriffe said:


> I don't inhale cigars and now my pipe like I did cigarettes either so the wife doesn't nag as much. :al


A pipe as well as cigars, you reallt have crossed the line! My dad used to smoke a pipe and many a time I have pulled it out to have a smoke, but my wife just collapses with laughter! She think it makes me look 20 years older.


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## relaxnsmoke (Mar 24, 2003)

I smoked cigarettes for a few years then quit @ age 26. 

When I was 41 a co-worker had a baby boy, so I bought him a box of H. Upman Robustos (D.R.) to hand out.....I had one and was amazed at how smooth and complex tobacco could be. Didn't smoke another for months.

For 5 years I would have a cigar once, maybe twice a month. Then I had a variety pack I bought from an internet site which had a few "standouts" in it....That was it! Humidors, Chat Rooms, Swaps and Mucho Generosity got me on the Quest for the Best. 50% of the time I'm amazed and content with the quality of cigars I have in my humidor(s)  , the other 50% of the time is harmful to my financial stability!


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## (909) (Jul 27, 2004)

I golf a lot and would buy the occasional cigar to smoke during or after a round. In most instances, the cigars were stored in a glass case in direct light and I am pretty sure that even if there were some sort of humidification device that no one checked it. I enjoyed smoking for the most part but didn't have the urge to go buy more. That all changed when I walked into a local wine and cigar shop with a big walk in humidor to buy some wine and bought a La Gloria Wavell to smoke while barbequeing. It wasn't dry like golf pro shop cigars, it burned well, didn't get hot and had a nice taste, I had to have more!!. That was a month ago, now I have a humidor and 36 various cigars, I know it's 36 because I like to look at them. I bought lots of variety with high ratings so that I can experience and decide what I like. Is this the beginning of an addiction?


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## relaxnsmoke (Mar 24, 2003)

(909) said:


> Is this the beginning of an addiction?


Welcome aboard 909! As far as being addicting?

Jeez, I don't think so......but..... my wife told me in no uncertain terms, I can't take my cigars to bed with me anymore. :w


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## kansashat (Mar 13, 2004)

909,
It is the beginning of a beautiful Journey  . I will tell my story later when I have more time.

:z


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## drc (Dec 31, 1999)

Started out with cigarettes in my reckless youth. Smoked a pipe for a while; tried cigars, but thought they were horrible (maybe because they were Dutch Masters, White Owl, that sort of stuff). Kicked the cigarettes in '89. About 4 or 5 years ago, my brother offered me an H. Upmann Lonsdale after dinner. I thoroughly enjoyed it. After that I started sampling other brands, shapes, sizes, and would smoke a cigar every couple months or so. Somewhere along the way, I stumbled into ClubStogie. Learned quite a bit from the brothers and sisters of the leaf. Now, weather permitting, I smoke 1 a day, maybe 2 on a Saturday or Sunday. After a rough day at work, there's nothing I like better than a glass of cognac (or bourbon, or scotch, or sometimes just ice water) and a cigar.


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## megasolo (Jan 13, 2004)

My uncle used to let me smoke his swisher sweets, when i was about 16. I used to like them, but never really got into smoking cigars. many many years later my brother in law was in charge of taking down the cigar bar at his boss's wedding. well he brought home all of the cigars and gave me one of each..I remember two of them to this day, one was a punch gran cru #2 and one was a hoyo de monterey excaliber 1066...man I was hooked from that moment forward...bought my first humidor two weeks after that and now i'm hooked.


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## kansashat (Mar 13, 2004)

Originally, Spaghetti Westerns w/Clint Eastwood & those little cheroots. I thought they were cool, but it was an occasional thing. Then, about 11 years ago I quit smoking cigarettes & was ok for years til one weekend, about 4 or 5 years ago, I got beered up & smoked one of my wife's Marlboro Lights.
I said, "We aren't going to have this!" I went out the next day & bought a hand rolled cigar. The rest as they say is history. I now have several humidors & own over 1000 cigars.
BTW, I haven't had a drink of alcohol in over 3 years.


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## KingMeatyHand (Mar 21, 2004)

It seemed to be a better idea than smoking crack, or mulch.


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## filly (Dec 12, 1997)

My late husband made me promise to smoke a cigar on our wedding night. He bought me one of the old blend Santa Damiana's and he had some Puros Indios thing. We ended up trading because mine wasn't strong enough in flavor for me! lol I would smoke whenever we herfed with other cigar smokers ( about 3-4 times a year) but then he developed a brain tumor so while he was in the hospital, I hung out with the SoCal guys and boy did they ever ruin me with aged ISOMs! I smoked cigars then because they reminded me of him so much. (He used to smoke 4-8 cigars a day) After my husband passed, I bought my first box, PSD4's and have been on the slippery slope ever since. Never smoked cigarettes ( u ) nor a pipe or anything else for that matter and I really enjoy coming home after a long day at school and grading papers while puffing on a really good cigar. Too many cigars and never enough money! lol


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## Brandon (Dec 11, 1997)

I love to travel around the country and hang out with fat, old guys


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## kamikaiguy (Feb 18, 2004)

I got Drunk at My cousins Graduation Party. His dad bought Cigar and I fired on up and was hooked ever since.


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## NewGeneration85 (Jul 12, 2004)

At age 15 I lived in Sweden and you could get cubans there, and cubans are cool, so i started smoking them. That is the beginning of my long love story.


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## friendoofop (Jul 20, 2004)

A friend of mine handed me a swisher about 3 months ago at one of their usual underage drinking parties. You all probably know the type....cheap beer, cheaper vodka, and a few packs of terrible cigars. About 2 or 3 of those later, I thought, "Hell, I could do better than this!". One trip to the local shop, and a few Padron/Punch/Excalibur later, I was set on my quest to bigger and better things. Bought a small humidor and have since filled it about half way. Since then I stumbled on to this place..(this is my first post here, been reading/lurking for a while though)...and now I'm hooked for good.


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

friendoofop said:


> A friend of mine handed me a swisher about 3 months ago at one of their usual underage drinking parties. You all probably know the type....cheap beer, cheaper vodka, and a few packs of terrible cigars.


Ahhh...Its been a while but I remember those parties like it was yesterday. Long gone are those days of Natty light, Aristocrat Vodka and Black & Milds. Hello Guinness, Grey Goose and Partagas Shorts and Monte #2's...I could go on here.

Enjoy your trip down the slippery slope and a warm welcome to Club Stogie.


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## Wetterhorn (Apr 1, 2004)

I went to Montreal and was turned onto cigars up there (ISOMs!). When I returned to Colorado, I started buying a variety of legal cigars and began to experiment with a variety of brands and strengths. I just loved everything about the hobby, from the enjoyment of the cigar, the relaxation during the smoke, and the many great people whom I have had the pleasure to meet and to speak to while enjoying this wonderful activity.

Thus began the slippery slope that I haven't been able to climb back up...

_*THANKFULLY!!!!*_


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

Matt R said:


> 'Cuz I thought I looked cool and wanted to get laid more often. Turns out I was completely backwards. I still look like a goof and I still get laid once in a full moon. :r


Understandable. Afterall, you ARE a Liberal. :r


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## Matt R (Dec 12, 1997)

flipflop said:


> Understandable. Afterall, you ARE a Liberal. :r


The only thing liberal about me is the size of my d*ick. :r


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## sleepyjim (Jul 24, 2004)

I wanted to b like Clinton so I got me some sticks after pluggin the ol lady up good, found 1 extra so I fired it up! After kickin myself in the ass for wasting cigars like I did, I bought more and now I am hooked!


Jim


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## kscotty (Aug 28, 2003)

I was attracted originally by the appeal of this as a time honored hobby that men have enjoyed for a long time.....after starting about a year ago, I was pleased to find that I truly enjoy the taste and it has become one of my few escapes where I am forced to sit quietly and contemplate the cigar and the billowing smoke.....it's almost meditative for me, it is so relaxing.

How can anything that lowers stress like that on a 3 or so stick per week habit be bad for you???

puff, puff....


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## viesturs (Jun 22, 2003)

It has helped me quit cigarretttes on a few occasions. Seriously started smoking Cuban cigars back in early to mid 80s. Started trvelling to Cuba then and have been going ever since.My first time there I wanted to see what all the fuss was about , so started to try different cigars and the rest is history .


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## Lord Hammer (Mar 18, 2003)

:al When i hit 40, a couple years ago, my body started rejecting my old stess reliever: 5th of Jack and a 12-pack chaser u . So, as Jack Nicolson said "the only way to get rid of a bad habit is to find a better one"  . Almost three years now and i have good health, cough, and find cigars a very "spiritual" experience as i watch the sunset etc... It can be very rewarding looking for that next brand i haven't tried and researching, coming here and surfing the web for more info. It's a hobby that involves more than just the time it takes to smoke a cigar, which itself is good enough, and now that i sucked my Wife into it money is never an issue .


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## hogg (Oct 13, 2003)

Great topic! I am like some of the other guys, lost a whole bunch of habits at once. I was looking for a dead end job and another hole in my pocket and some old british guy asked me to open up his cigar shop for him every morning.

Late 90's and we were selling everything we could get, nestled between four or five bars the drinking crowd would come in and smoke anything, which is what i did too. Played the same Frank Sinatra Reprise cd in the store over and over for months (don't ask : ) and also found a pleasant addiction to British chocolate. We had to buy black market Fuentes and had never even heard of Padron (we were out in the boonies). Every once in a while a real cigar smoker would come in and chew us out for selling the Fuentes overpriced but I was turned onto a few sticks that made incredible impressions on me, and got to try a Romeo Cetros that I remember to this day...


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## ilikecigars (Mar 24, 2003)

im too fat to look cool smoking cigarettes........... :r 

actually a guy at a party gave me of all things a macanoodle...and worse yet i was so drunk i liked it...i then started at jrs bulliton board buying everything on sale...then over to the darkside when someone here bombed the %&#$ OUT OF ME.. so i sold all my domestics and now up to my eyeballs in habanos of all sorts.

guess i have to thank mr. macanoodle for getting me started..oh, i did smoke garcia vegas back in the 70's but they didnt have the same effect as the mcadoo.


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## friendoofop (Jul 20, 2004)

ilikecigars said:


> guess i have to thank mr. macanoodle for getting me started..oh, i did smoke garcia vegas back in the 70's but they didnt have the same effect as the mcadoo.


'Mcadoo' is a town about 7 miles up the road from where I live. (PA)....have I got any neighbors in the jungle?


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## TheBeast (Jan 1, 2000)

Great stories, but I have no idea as to "why?" The cigar was an AF Spanish Lonsdale...I remember where I bought it...but I smoked alot of cheeba back then...so my thought process is nothing more than a mystery at this point.LOL


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## jb- (Jul 27, 2004)

Boredom.


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## BenjieV (Apr 3, 2004)

My Uncles all smoked cigars when I was growing up. In fact one of them let me take a puff during a family gathering during the holidays when I was about 8 yrs old my mom came unglued! But I was hooked, I started smoking regularly in high school and of course anytime I was on the golf course starting with grenadiers, white owls and swishers moving up to my 1st mail order experience with Thompsons and Oakbrook tabacco shop who have there own line of hand rolled cigars. Now its ISOM and CBid over the internet. Always trying something new but still have the tried and true lines AFs, Partagas, Hoyas and Cohiba that line the hummies. 

Joining all you guys has just done nothing but increased my inventory of cigars.

BenjieV


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## txmatt (May 22, 2004)

Well this is more than you asked about but explaining how I got started without explaining the whole history didn't seem right. If you don't want to read the extra stuff I added feel free to stop at any time  

I bummed my first cigarette sometime in College at a party or a bar when I was drunk. Throughout the year I bummed cigars from friends who smoked at parties/bars/concerts. On a trip to NYC to visit a friend I tried an unfiltered Lucky Strike and it became "my brand", I started buying them for myself. The cigarette addiction took hold and soon (as a poor college student) I could no longer afford the habbit.

I found that rolling my own would allow me to continue, and at a party I noticed a guy with a nice case that rolled the cigarette and kicked it out of the top when you closed it. I went and asked him about it, and he told me where he ordered it and also shared with me that adding a bit of aromatic pipe tobacco to the mix would draw attention from chicks. I thought the case would get girls' attention by itself but decided to go into a tobacco store to pick up some pipe tobacco anyways. That store also had a huge walk in humidor that intrigued me, but I never went in.

When I knew I needed to kick the cigarette habit I started to buy all of my tobacco at this store because they carried a brand of additive free tobacco. One afternoon when I was in there I asked the salesperson (whom by this time I knew by name) what he'd recommend I try for a cigar. He said, "I was wondering how long it would be before you aked." He recommended I try AF pointing at the DCs. I reached below those for a couple of less expensive cigars of the same brand (a couple of Curly Heads) and reminded him I started rolling cigarettes because I was poor. He confidently told me, "you will be back for those."

The rest is history. Although some of my friends and neighbors smoked machine made GyV and AyC they never tasted any different/better to me than my cigarettes. When I let them try the Curly Heads they were all also going to the cigar shop and buying them there and trying different brands. One of my favorites early on was Macanudo (when they were still made in Jamaica), but quit that as the boom cranked up and they moved to DR. Following that my pattern was to get a recommendation for a cheap yet decent cigar. After trying singles I would buy boxes/bundles and stick with that brand until the boom swallowed it up. I went through periods of Montesino, then La Unica, Tamboril (don't know how I could stand those), and finally La Finca. In 1998, after I had been used to spending $28/box of La Finca, they rang up for $80 (CI gave them a 91). I quit buying cigars at that point. I would smoke them twice a year or so at gatherings with my wife's family as its a longstanding tradition. On a backcountry hiking trip in 2000 with the men of my wife's family I was asked to bring cigars for the group. I was pleased after a bit of online shopping to see that cigars were back to the prices of the early to mid 90s. I bought a box of La Finca coronas and a bundle of La Unica #400M. After this trip I started buying singles of different brands, but still only smoked 3-4 times a year. 

In May of this year my Father-In-Law and I were asked to bring cigars for the guys on a week long trip on the beach. I decided to hit some forums to study and got swallowed up by this addiction. My tupperdor of 6-8 cigars became a Coolerdor of 350+ sticks after finding cigarbid.com. Although at least 20% of the sticks I have bought since I wouldn't buy again; smoking them has allowed me to realize exactly what I do like. On the trip I brought 50 cigars, 5 different ones apiece for the 10 smokers, and now several of my wife's uncles are asking me for recommendations. 

I now know about several $1 - $2 sticks I like for go to/yard cigars, and many $3 - $5 cigars I can smoke on Fridays or better-than-ordinary days. Best yet is that the few cigars I have "splurged" on in the $8 - $15 range this year (recommendations from forums) may now be my new favorites. ('64 PAM and Ashton VSG) Although I can't buy expensive sticks like that often, its great knowing what exactly I want to try next. (big $$$ Graycliff Espresso). When I walk into a store's humidor I no longer walk around randomly looking at cigars or the stupid "rated X by Y" signs but instead have specific cigars in mind or at least a specific type. On my last trip to the closest cigar shop I told the clerk I was looking for a sungrown I hadn't yet tried. After about 8 recommendations he went and got a book and was finally able to come up with a Fonseca Cedar Sungrown. I am going to need to find a different shop to continue my exploration of this wrapper. Cigar smoking is very fun for me to say the least.

Thanks All 
Matt


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## rumballs (Mar 15, 2005)

txmatt said:


> Well this is more than you asked about but explaining how I got started without explaining the whole history didn't seem right. If you don't want to read the extra stuff I added feel free to stop at any time


just saw this one. great story matt!


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## 5thDan (Mar 15, 2005)

Started smoking in Vietnam back in '68. I used a cigar to light the time delay fuse on stuff I was blowing up. Total against EOD/Army regs but WTF. After the service I also started smoking pipes which became my fulltime smoke. Gave it all up about '81 or 82. Got back into it almost a year ago when my son gave me a cigar when we were in the Bahama's for his wedding. Man was that good and the rest as they say is history. I just wish I could have the 20 years I missed back.  

:u


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## tecnorobo (Mar 29, 2005)

Well it all started about a year and half ago on a cold foggy evening. Haloween to be exact. I had just turned 16 and was just driving as well. 
My friends and i were feeling a little rebelious so we decided we were going to sneak out later and try to break into an abandoned theatre and make some dry ice bombs and such.

Leo (elisha) was with us and was complaining about how he wasnt gonna drive because he was with us and was missing cigar night with his boys. Well we needed him to drive because we had a few carloads of people and i told him i'd buy him cigars.

Anyway to make a long story short we were sitting in someones driveway attempting to steal his car and move it in his yard (he had a hidden key and we knew where it was) 

While we were doing this leo pulled out the cigars he bought at the gas station. A 5 pack of phillies honey blunts. They are gross to me now, but then they were nothing short of amazing and i knew i'd be hooked in cigars for the rest of my life.

Thank you leo... 
haha


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## il duce (Apr 1, 2005)

my cousin gave me a black and mild about a 1 1/2yrs ago. smoked them for about a couple of months until i was drunk at a party and one of my friends gave me a macanudo ascot (the ones in the tin can). fell in love with those but moved on to more fuller cigars. i now have 3 boxes and a desktop humi full of about 12 different brands.

i still enjoy the ascot evry once in a while


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## Ninja Vanish (Apr 7, 2005)

The Rodster said:


> whilst I would not advocate stamp collecting (though I can now understand why people do) the cigars thing is defintiely my overiding hobby (or did I mean obsession!)
> 
> Rodster


I started because I thought it lood crazy cool. And plus I always wanted to, ever since I was kid wwatching Clint Eastwood in westerns smoking his little stoges on camera I thought, that is something I want to try.

In regards to your quote up there, stamps don't taste as good when you smoke them. : )


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## horrorview (Jan 27, 2005)

I started smoking cigars as a goof years ago (for poker games after band rehearsal). I started showing up to practice with Macanudos instead of Swishers, and the guys thought I was nuts to pay so much money for one cigar. I eventually quit smoking cigarettes and smoked 'gars for a coupla years until around '97, when I got a job where cigarette smoking became sort of a necessity again!! :c 

Then, in May of 2004, I smoked my last cigarette and started 'gars again full-time. I smoke 2-3 a day, which is probably too much, but I don't inhale 2 PACKS a day, so, in my mind, that's progress!


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## PuffTheMagicDragon (May 2, 2005)

I think the reason I started is because of the association of a good cigar with success. Not wealth, but just overall success in being a man and having all the things I need and being able to have and do afew of those things that I want. It is mostly a mental thing for me, however, after lighting my first stogie, it has become much more more.


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